Archaeologists believe they have found the remains of a tragic woman author Thomas Hardy used as the real-life inspiration for his classic novel Tess of the D'Urbevilles after he witnessed her execution.

Martha Brown was publicly hanged outside Dorchester jail in Dorset for the murder of her violent husband in 1856, a macabre event a 16-year-old Hardy was in the front row for.

Almost 40 years later, the grisly experience was at the forefront of the famous writer's mind when he wrote the ending for his best known heroine Tess Durbeyfield in his 1892 book.

The gates of Dorchester prison in 1856, where a 16-year-old Thomas Hardy watched Martha Brown hang

Producer Nick Gilbey made a film (pictured) about Martha Brown who inspired the classic Thomas Hardy book

A screenshot from a documentary by Nick Gilby about Martha Brown who attacked her violet husband

In it, Tess was a wronged woman who was hanged at Winchester jail for the murder of Alec D'Urbeville, her violent lover who raped her and prevented her from being with her true love.

In a 2008 BBC adaptation, Tess was played by Gemma Arterton while her suitor, Angel Clare, was played by Eddie Redmayne.

Records show that eight convicts were executed and buried at Dorchester prison up until 1878.

The Victorian jail was closed in 2013 and sold by the government to developers who are now in the process of building 190 new homes on the site.

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Because it is an historic location, archaeologists had to be brought in before any redevelopment could begin and they made numerous exploratory trenches.

One them uncovered the old burial grounds for the prisoners, with at least one skull and other remains being dug up.

Out of the eight convicts only one of them was female, so establishing which are the remains of 44-year-old Martha Brown should be straight forward.

Historians and Hardy enthusiasts are now calling for a sensitive, full-scale dig of the burial ground to be carried out so that Martha's remains can be exhumed and reburied elsewhere.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is pictured here in 1923

Since the publication of Tess of the D'Urbevilles, arguably Hardy's most celebrated work, Martha has been regarded as a heroine; an abused wife who killed her brute of a husband with an axe in an act of self-defence.

If her case had come to court today she would most likely have end up with a suspended prison sentence rather than be hung in front of a ghoulish crowd.

Nick Gilby, a Dorset TV producer who has made a documentary about Martha Brown, has studied the preliminary archaeological report issued to West Dorset District Council.

He said: 'There are eight bodies buried at the prison and they have found one skull and some other remains.

'Tests should now be carried out to see if that skull or those remains are female because if they are then they are Martha's.

'There is an early 19th century plan of Dorchester prison available that shows where within the walls the designated burial site.

'It was on the eastern side of the prison and is 20 yards to the North Square gate which is where the executions took place and where Thomas Hardy watched Martha hang.

'That is the location where these remains have been found.

'People are concerned the developers will go in to the rest of the burial grounds with a JCB and tear up the site and we will lose Martha's remains.

'But a more fuller excavation needs to be done and tests carried out to find her so she can be given a more suitable burial.

'She is quite an important historical figure nowadays because of the Hardy connection.'

The book is viewed as a classic work by Hardy

'My interest is obviously mainly in Martha but I think all the bodies should be exhumed. Their descendants could still be around, they are people who have got names, not some long forgotten Roman soldier, they were living just 150 years or so ago.'

Much like Tess, Martha Brown endured a hard life which was blighted by tragedy.

She had married Bernard Bearn and lived in the west Dorset village of Powerstock. They had two children but sadly they both died when they were young.

When her husband fell on hard times he disappeared and left Martha to fend for herself.

She then met John Brown, who was 20 years her junior, and they married.

When she caught him in bed with another woman the couple rowed, prompting John to storm out. When he returned home drunk later he hit her with a whip and she retaliated by striking him over the head with the wood chopping axe, smashing his skull and killing him.

After she was arrested she lied and claimed her husband's death had been caused by being kicked in the head by a horse.

Neither the police nor a jury believed her and she was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.

Three weeks later a crowd of up to 4,000 turned out to watch Martha hang, including Thomas Hardy who was a trainee architect at the time.

Martha was the last woman to be hanged in Dorset.

Fifteen years ago a letter Hardy wrote to his friend Lady Pinney in 1926, two years before his death, was discovered. In it he wrote about the execution of Martha Brown.

He wrote: 'I remember what a fine figure she showed against the sky as she hung in the misty rain.

'And how the light black silk gown set off her shape as she wheeled half-round and back.'

Thomas Hardy, aged 19 - he was only 16 when he witnessed the hanging which inspired his work

In handwritten notes of conversations she had with Hardy, Lady Pinney described how she: '...sat over the open fire at his house hearing him talk of Martha and Tess, who had so much in common, just as if they were in the next room.

'His sympathy for these unhappy women was wonderful.'

And in a later letter by Hardy's widow Florence to Lady Pinney related how the hanging 'gave a tinge of bitterness and gloom to his life's work'.

Mike Nixon, the secretary of the Hardy Society, said: 'There is certainly an assumption that Martha's execution affected him so much that he used it for the ending of Tess.

'He did later record that he was very affected in a horrific way and clearly he retained that experience when he came to write one of his most famous books.

'Everyone was a little bit ghoulish in those days. He would have been very impressionable at that age and an event like that would certainly leave a lasting impression.'

A spokesman for West Dorset County Council said they will consult the county's senior archaeologist as to whether more excavation work needs to be carried out on the site.

A spokesman for developers City and Country said their preference would be to leave the remains undisturbed.

Mr Gilby (pictured) who is calling for human remains that could be those of Martha Brown to be moved

How Dorchester prison looks today - archaeologists believe they have found the remains of a tragic woman who was the real-life inspiration for the classic novel Tess of the D'Urbevilles